Oppose terrorism? Yes, with an even hand.

“… from this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”
– President George W. Bush, September, 2001.

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Under cover of darkness, three terrorists eased their rubber raft into the waters of Auckland harbor. Operation Satanic‘s front line approached their prey: the 418-ton Rainbow Warrior. Two of the three silently dove beneath the unsuspecting crew, fixing mines to the hull.

At 11:45 P.M., Rainbow Warrier burst apart. It sank in four minutes. Of the crew of 12, one drowned below-decks (where he was trying to rescue photographic equipment when the second mine exploded); most of the others leaped or were blown into the sea.
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Here’s a strange tale: Operation Satanic (no kidding!) was an official action of the … French national intelligence service. Thirteen agents were identified; two were convicted. Massive cover-up ensued. One of the terrorists was the brother of recent French presidential candidate Sègoléne Royal. Twenty years later, the French would admit complicity even of former President François Mitterand.

Rainbow Warrior was the flagship of the environmental group Greenpeace. Its crime-to-be was a planned protest at the French Polynesian island of Moruroa, where the French were to detonate a “test” nuclear explosion.

So, OK. Old news: democracy-sponsored terrorism. What has all this to do with today? Here ’tis:

Operation Satanic’s mission commander now lives, safe and secure, in McLean, Virginia! In fact, he’s busy making megabucks selling arms to the US government’s “war on terror.” He piloted the inflatable Scorpion that ferried the divers and their bombs. He’s one of the 11 the French got off without prosecution.

Now suppose Mr. Dillais had worked for, say, Ecuador. Or Nigeria. Or (inestimably suspect today), imagine he were a Muslim. You can be sure agents would have met him at the airport, locked him up for a year or two, and then sent him home. But non! He is a citizen of France.